Ravi Shastri picks his wicketkeeper between Kishan and Bharat for the WTC Final 2023

The World Test Championship (WTC) final begins on June 7 at the Oval in London. The two best test nations India and Australia will clash against each other in a thrilling battle. For India, it’s a toss-up between KS Bharat and Ishan Kishan for the wicketkeeper position now that KL Rahul is sidelined due to injury. In response to the conundrum, former India head coach Ravi Shastri stated that not much differentiates Bharat and Kishan.

At the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Bharat made his India Test debut and was kept in the lineup for the WTC championship game. Notably, he has filled in for Team India when Wriddhiman Saha left. In contrast, Kishan was called up for his debut Test match prior to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but did not get the chance. 

Bharat was given an opportunity against Australia, according to Shastri, who also stated that the Andhra-born keeper is the logical choice for the WTC championship match. Shastri was speaking on the most recent edition of the ICC Review. Kishan can strengthen the middle order with his batting, thus India may want to take that into consideration.

Ravi Shastri Said

“See, that’s another tight one (decision). Now, if two spinners are playing, then you would want Bharat to play. You have to see who’s a better keeper. Is it Bharat or Ishan Kishan? Now, the fact that Bharat was given a run against Australia, where he played all the Test matches, I think he would be the obvious choice to go with,” Shastri said. 

Two spinners were in Ravi Shastri’s expected starting lineup for the World Test Championship final, and the wicketkeeper was KS Bharat. Bharat has made an impact with his skills behind the wickets and on rank turners, scoring 101 runs in six innings. 

“There’s not much there. It’s not that one guy is far better than the other. Batting will also come into play, whether you want Ishan Kishan’s batting to shore up the middle order. That’s another thing you’ll take into perspective. Are you going to go with four fast bowlers? Then there’s not much spin and you just need someone decent behind the stumps to do the job,” he added.

Ravi Shastri’s India XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, KS Bharat (wk), Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Mohammed Siraj

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